The Morpheus Effect
by Phobopobia
Summary: A year. That's how long I've been going there when I sleep. How many secrets are hidden behind a veil that I cannot reach? How am I arriving here every night? And what reason, if there is one, to my being here? Well, first things first. Worry about the things trying to kill me every night. Self Insert, Violence, Blood and gore. HIATUS
1. Prologue, A Tall Scary Sleepwalker

** A/N: This is going to be a long first A/N, so bear with me. Alright, so I'm looking around and I've seen plenty of self insert fanfics(Naruto not included, never really liked it for some reason) but the majority of self inserts I've seen are either poorly written, inserted characters are too overpowered, some bs love affair, or something along those lines. So with those facts in mind and knowing how a self insert is typically received, I'll try to go for a balance between action, dialogue, and characterization. If you guys find or know something that I missed, such as a plot twist or a few spelling mistakes, then feel free to point them out to me however you please, although I would have to ask you to PM me about said facts/changes unless it is a part of a review and not the review itself.**

** We're going off of the idea that I haven't seen or know anything in regards to the world of RWBY, but other than that nothing about me is different.**

** Mainly details this time, laying a basic foundation so to speak.**

**UPDATE: Updated the first half of the story. Now I'm not chasing flies in my room.**

- Prologue -

- Me -

"Come on, listen to my song!"

"I've already heard it a thousand times." This doesn't stop my younger cousin as she starts singing in her completely terrible off pitch and cracking voice. It just doesn't stop does it?

"That's it, I can't play this with her there." I drop the xbox controller and leave the living room, leaving my younger brother to play by himself on Halo 4 legendary. He can handle it with a bit of practice but I can't deal with that and my horrible cousin at the same time. I just can't do both at the same time and I'd rather not suffer through y eardrums getting beat on my a seven year old while trying to focus on something a bit more important than a self-centered child. I get that everyone is annying like that at one point but please, just stop.

"Where are you going? Are you going to your room? Let me see your room!"

"No, you're not allowed in my room." I manage to get down the steps and into my room before her and close the door, locking it shut as she tries in vain to open it. The answer to this problem is simple from here on out. Turn on my computer and find some good songs. She starts going off on a tirade of bad singing and high pitched screams but I manage to ignore her. Family reunions, you have to love them but you have to hate them.

The screaming outside my room stopped when another voice from upstairs yelled down asking about something. Looks like for the time being I'll be left in peace. As the hours pass by I glance at the time. Late, but not too late. I sigh as I think of what sleep will bring me. That strange place. Looking over to my bed I think of what that place has brought me over the past year. Combat, survival skill, instincts, the such. Embracing the inevitable, I change into my sleepwear and turn out the lights. Within a few minutes I'm drifting off only to wake up again later.

-Phobophobia-

It's always a strange sensation, falling asleep only to wake up again in the body of a beast. It leaves a kind of tingle that threatens to rip through your flesh that nothing else can truly duplicate.

The night is cool as always here, a slight chill that made me anticipate the night ahead. After a year of this place at night you begin to understand that the world is not a kind place, even if you are. Whatever this place is, it gave me skills to survive both in the wilderness and in a fight. The whole fight or flight thing doesn't matter here, it's more like eat or be eaten. I can't explain my being here, either accidentally or intentionally existing, but the few scars I do have prove that it's not a waking dream scape. The inhabitants, these monsters, are ready to give more at a moments notice without mercy. Or a higher thought process.

The monsters here were different than what I could have ever imagined, almost as if it was unholy incarnate that came down and warped them. Massive beasts larger than the average car, darker than the pitch black that surrounded them on a new moon with white bones growing from their body acting as armor and weapons. The bones themselves are jagged, as if someone took a twisted cord of hair and thorns and chewed it with sharp teeth making it into either a deadly point or a plate of armor. Blood red tribal markings stretched across the bones adorning their body in a twisted patern. Yet with all this I couldn't say much better for myself, looking down upon my other more monstrous self.

I took a similar appearance to them, but even with these basic similarities I am far different than they. One of the few things I took a shine to was my tail, a long and sinewy thing that I later realized I could use as a whip in combat. My fur is snow white as an anti to these creatures. The same type of bones adorned my body, the same twisted nature yet black as pitch compared to the bone white the others have. The bone plates on my body were light and thin, barely there aside from my head and upper body. Excluding said areas, the main focus of bone are my hands and feet, creating light arms and armor.

On each of my still five appendages on each extreme are claws. Sharp bone created slightly curved fingertips and toes that were thin, sharp, and long enough to cause damage and move quickly in between whatever stood in my way, be it armor, blade or flesh. Aside from that and covering the wide flat outer surfaces of my hands and feet, that would be the extent of the armor on my extremities. I glanced over to the mirror I had taken possession of, a tiny little unremarkable hand mirror from a small sack I kept with me.

The bone on my upper body and head is a bit different. Two wide flat plates cover my pectorals from collarbones to the end of my chest. My collarbones themselves are covered in a band of bone that took the basic shape of my bones itself and twisting just the same. My neck is covered in little, just a simple bone collar that was the height of a folded oxford collar that didn't even encompass my entire neck, leaving a gap at the bottom of my throat. Two plates stretch from my back and reached down to my collarbone armor to provide a bit of protection on my back.

My head is covered in two slightly heavier plates made to look like a skull, split into the skull itself and the jaw. The eye sockets are sharp and pointed compared to the roundness of a humans. The eyes themselves are round golden orbs with slitted pupils surrounded by black nothingness. In place of a nose hole there is a slight out dent just enough for a nose to fit with jagged holes for my nostrils. Twenty eight sharp pointed teeth, fourteen above and below, and set up in a barely noticeable grin adorn my mouth. The skull plate extends over my head completely to form a natural helmet while leaving room for my ears, sharp pointed things on the sides of my head. From where my eyebrows would be there are the roots of two wide and flat horns that traveled up my forehead and arc gently above my skull, curving up slightly at the end. Golden tribal marks travel from my eyes, twisting into a patern that resembles chopped vines curving around each other repeatedly. The majority arc up onto my horns, while a group of smaller vines splay out from the outer corners of my eyes and curve up.

I twitch my ears, thankful for the enhanced senses. There was a pack of werewolves outside my cave. I set the mirror back down in the small rucksack, stow it away behind a rock, and grin beneath my mask. After a year of being here, I can say that this is going to be an eventful night.

-Phobophobia-

**A/N: So I managed to crank out the prologue on this story, hopefully this will be the minimum story length seeing as how there wasn't much in terms if dialogue. Personal details will come in time as the story progresses, obviously I won't use my real name and such. Tell me what you guys think and I'll get back to you if I can.**


	2. Chapter 1, Mortal Warfare

**A/N: Here we are with chapter one, primarily a fight scene continuing from the last chapter.**

** Also, since I have a lack of RWBY knowledge in this fanfic, I'll tell you here what I'm calling all the different grimm and other stuff relative to RWBY. It's mostly simple stuff so I think it should be obvious anyways.**

**Werewolf- Beowolf**

**Bear- Ursa**

**Boar- Boarbatusk**

**Yin-Yang Snake- King Taijitu**

**Scorpion- Deathstalker**

**Crow- Nevermore**

**Magic- Semblance**

**Mana- Aura**

-Chapter One-

-Me-

Before I'm fully out of the cave the werewolves see me. They growl and gnash their teeth at me, carefully walking around me. Standing about a foot shorter than myself, there's a bone plate on their heads with thin markings, spikes going down the spine and a few other areas, and flat claws on the hands and feet. There's five of them this time, normally it's only three. The cool wind is blowing gently, rustling the grass and leaves, white fur and black alike. I'm a few feet out of the cave and they're in a group a small ways away. The trees, while not thick, provide ample chances of ambush and as usual they don't think. I flick my tail, nearly twice as long as I am tall. Let's see if I can do this without my magic.

All five came rushing forward with a few clawing over each other to get at me first. The first one came rushing at me and the first thing I did was whip my tail into the side of his face. This tripped two of the others that were behind him, the other two behind jumping over them and charging. I jumped over them and slashed at their backs with my toes managing to draw first blood on each of them. One of the ones that had tripped was getting back up until I grabbed it by the back of the neck and slammed it into the other one that I had tripped. With the one I tripped getting back up I flung my tail around its right arm and pulled it toward me. It tried to attack with its other arm but my right claws parried it away while I sent my left into its throat, piercing to the spine. I turn and send it flying off my hand into a nearby tree while swinging my tail behind me, whipping one that tried to attack me.

One down.

Two of the beasts rush me, low to the ground and growling. One of them jumps up while the other continues running. I ran at the one to the ground, bringing myself low so that the one above would miss, and as the first one jumped over me I rolled to the side whipping my tail down on the head of the runner. Jaw first in the ground and skull bone broken I jumped up and landed on its head with a resounding _crack_. The outer skull was shattered but the inner skull was still intact, blood pooling around it and effectively disorienting it. One of the other two werewolves tried to bite me, but with a flick of my wrist and a pull of my claws the roof of its mouth was now bleeding profusely thanks to deep lacerations. It stumbled back whimpering in pain with the one that jumped having charged at me, too close to dodge. As it bites into my shoulder I bring my left hand up to slice at its last werewolf charges , easily knocked back by my tail whipping its legs out from under it. I jump up and turning my body in the process use the werewolf latched unto my shoulder to land on the werewolf with the broken skull plating. Another crack sounds in the forest.

Two down.

As we impacted the downed werewolf, the one latched onto my shoulder howled in pain. I use this to back away putting a good distance between myself and the attackers. A slight lull in the fight commenced, the three growling at the death of their comrades. Heh, stupid communists. This time I rushed in to attack. Twisting around mid-sprint I whip my tail around and bring their legs out from under them. Pouncing on one I use my legs to keep its arms pinned to the ground. Before it can claw at me I swipe my claws across its biceps, eliminating the threat of claws. With another one heading for me I use its throat as a springboard and jump off of it while scraping my toe claws at it. The one rushing at me trips over the werewolf that I cut up landing jaw first. A flick of my tail sends the third one, having tried to rush me, stumbling into a close by tree. Not allowing the second one time to recuperate, I pounce and pin him to the ground. Taking the head in both hands, I fiercely twist and break its neck.

Three down.

The one I sent into the tree comes back up and, once again, rushes. Unfortunately for it, the one I cut up is attempting to get back up and failing to see this it collides into the slightly disoriented half standing werewolf. As they tumble down, I casually walk over and curb stomp the armored face of the bleeding one. As the other one is getting back up I jump over it, twisting to land while still facing it, and tear at the Achilles Tendons with my claws. It falls back to the ground again in a screech of pain, landing on its knees. With another broken neck the world is free of one more werewolf. The last one is easily dispatched of as well, a quick swipe across the throat and that's that.

That's the last of them.

I poke and prod a bit at my shoulder. Nothing too bad, the healing factor my magic gives me doesn't use much mana up and it's not like it's a life threatening wound. I'm still not good enough without my magic. Even so, I should dispose of the bodies. Akin to pulling a muscle, my magic flares up around me manifesting as the golden aura I'm used to seeing. Focusing at my tail then whipping it across the bodies of the dead, the bodies slowly dissolve into golden light and join my tail. The only use this facet of my magic has is to increase my mana limit, feeling it do so gently. Over the past year quite a few werewolves have fallen to claw and tail, yet with this being only a recent discovery my magic reserves are still low. Maybe I should try to find that Yin-Yang Snake I found a few months back. My stomach growls. So maybe I should have left one of the bodies alone.

-Phobophobia-

"So how's that?"

"As violent as ever. How do you come up with this on a daily basis?"

"You would be surprised..." I mutter.

"Eh, whatever. It's still good, but you do need more practice."

"I know, that's why I'm doing this."

"Just go write fanfiction or something, I don't know man. What do you like?"

"I'm not going to go writing fanfiction just for the hell of it. Besides, it's not like there's anything that I can write about with this stuff going through my head more and more recently." Honestly, it feels like I belong there more than I do here now.

"Then just use that in your writing. It's not like it's hard to do, just change up a few of the details to fit in whatever fandom you decide to write about." Even though he can't see it through the skype call I shake my head.

"No, it just doesn't feel right."

"Whatever, you coming on or what?"

"Nah, I'm set for the day. Good luck."

"Thanks." I end the skype call and sigh, lying back onto my bed. The nice thing about having a desk next to your bed is you don't need to move around much. Glancing at my shoulder- _my _shoulder, I can see the faint outlines of the scar that should be there, and numerous others across my bare abdomen. Another strange and inexplicable thing on my list of oddities. Some things will cross over with me, others will not. The Morpheus Effect, named so because while the pain is real it happens only during my sleep. With Morpheus being the mythological Greek god of sleep and dreams, well, it makes sense. Maybe I should start calling that place the Matrix, then I might start getting some answers.

Well, at least it isn't the end of the world.

-Phobophobia-

**A/N: And that's that. My friend on the skype call is an OC, had to make it seem like I'm not talking to myself here. Wait... where did the fourth wall go?**


	3. Chapter 2, The Principle of Oz

** A/N: Hey guys, next chapter is up. Ozpin is taking a spin at this fanfic for a chapter, after that it's back to me. The main difference between my PoV and others is that they will be in third person, an attempt to add diversity to the story while still making my existence more significant or something like that.**

** A lot of this chapter is vague speculation because of a lack of information on Rwby in general, any info that's not in the show would be greatly appreciated.**

** You guys see the new episode? ... Isn't it impossible to do that with food? I mean, last time I checked and all.**

-Chapter 2-

-Ozpin-

"Ruby Rose." Ozpin looks down at the dossier that had been compiled by local law enforcement. "The girl with silver eyes." He looks back up at Glynda Goodwitch, interrogating the small girl in red in the adjacent room. She had to know, they had been searching for a long time. They were lucky they found her, otherwise they may have run out of time. He grabbed the plate of warm cookies that had been made for the girl- thankfully her sister was a very social person, and his own obligatory mug of coffee. Opinions be damned.

"Ruby Rose." He walks into the room and leans over the table. "You have silver eyes." He was glad they had found her when they did. Well, before now they didn't know if the person they were looking for was male or female, but that had easily been clarified upon discovery.

"U- um.."

"So!" Ozpin leans back. Glynda had pulled up a video of her fighting the robbers that had been caught on the security cameras. "Where did you learn to do this?"

"S- signal Academy?" she said with a nervous smile.

"They taught you to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?" And with skill like that he was glad that she had attended Signal. While rough around the edges, she had a well developed combat style that reminded him a bit too much of an old friend.

"Well, one teacher in particular."

"I see." He hands her the plate of warm cookies. After nervously taking one, the rest soon followed in a manner that seemingly defied logic. Then again, her semblance was speed from what the files at Signal said. In fact many things this occupation demands on a daily basis defied logic. "It's just that I've seen one other scythe wielder of that skill before. A dusty old crow..." Ruby started talking but with a mouth full of food it was difficult to understand her. Something about an uncle?

"Eh! Sorry. That's my uncle Qrow! He's a teacher at Signal." Ozpin made a mental note to contact him later. He should have told them. "I was complete garbage before he took me under his wing, and now I'm all like-" After this the girl makes various attempts at acting out various ninja poses. None of them were even really ninja actions, a true student of the shinobi arts would never draw attention to themselves by making such ridiculous noises.

"So I've noticed." Even if immature her antics were slightly humorous. He set his mug down. "And what is an adorable girl such as yourself doing at a school designed to train warriors?"

"Well... I want to be a huntress."

"You want to slay monsters?" That is why most went there. The fame, the glory, the accolades, the such.

"Yeah. I only have two more years of training left at Signal, and then I'm going to apply to Beacon. See my sister is starting there this year and she's trying to become a huntress and I'm trying to become a huntress because I want to help people! My parents always taught us to help others so I though, 'Oh, you know, might as well make a career out of it' hehe.. I mean policemen are right? But Hunters and Huntresses are just so much more romantic and exciting cool-" Having increased in speed when talking throughout her answer at this point she was reducing her words to small exclamations of excitement. "You know?" Ozpin didn't need to turn around to know the worried look on her face. She would bring this up later. Even so, the girl excelled in combat and had a good heart. Yet if she continued down this road she would have to change ever so slightly.

"Do you know who I am?"

-Phobophobia-

"She is a child."

"I know you have reservations about this but you know why we need her. Although Qrow should have told us he found her, it is good he managed to train her." Ozpin and Glynda were walking through the Emerald forest in an attempt to lessen the number of Grimm before initiation. Each year they did this so that there was a challenge during initiation yet there weren't so many that the students would die within the first ten minutes. This year however there were less Grimm than usual, so the two had been on their guard. "Smell that?"

"Blood, over there." Looking to his right there was a tree that had its trunk splattered with the blood of Grimm. Around said tree were the signs of a fight, a cracked ground and a few twisting scorch marks on the ground. "Whatever is doing this is doing it on a nightly basis."

"In a way that makes this person more effective than us. We only do this once a week. How long do you think this has been happening?"

"I couldn't say." The pair moved on, occasionally fighting off the obsessed group of Grimm and occasionally finding another bloody scene. "Odd that the first scene lacked any claw marks."

"I agree. Either the first time whatever did this held back or there is more than one of these things killing Grimm." By the time they reached the more grassy part of the forest they had found a total of seven fight scenes but only encountered three groups of Beowolves and a single group of Ursa. On a normal nightly basis they should have encountered twenty groups total by now, a growing strength in numbers throughout the year meant that wherever they spawned from was either growing too crowded or the Grimm were becoming strong enough to attempt to kill more humans. Ozpin nodded in agreement, but then there was a flash of gold off in the distance to their right. As they neared the source they began to hear noises. A roar. The sound of a tree being felled. Fighting. The two reached a large clearing almost a football field wide. There was the king Taijitu, damaged and bleeding, with both heads encircling something, wrapping closer and closer together to ensnare its victim

A flurry of long golden claws erupted from in between the snakes, wounding the King Taijitu further and illuminating the area in a brilliant flash. A damaged Grimm is the source of the light, human in body and male in gender yet holding the inverse characteristics of a creature of its nature. Black bones on white fur rippled as it moved in a show of power and natural grace, retracting the golden claws back into its being with a clenching of fists and a flash of light. The gold markings and eyes shimmered slightly as if welcoming the power this creature had shown.

"Are we seeing this correctly?" Ozpin stole a quick glance at his accomplice. Glynda stood both relaxed yet tense with slight concern in her eyes dominated by a steadfast resolve.

"I believe the more important question is will the students be safe this year?" He turned back to the battle, the concern in Glynda's eyes growing. "A Grimm with a soul... the girl with silver eyes... this can't be a coincidence."

The white Grimm slashes at the incoming white head, tearing a deep wound down the neck of the beast. The black head shoots toward the white Grimm, knocking it away with a headbutt and hisses a challenge . The white Grimm impacted the ground gracelessly yet recovered quickly. The claws glowed that same ethereal golden color and disappeared back into the Grimm.

The white Grimm darts forward, bringing its now glowing tail around from the right. The end of the tail became surrounded in a small golden orb of light, impacting with the black head with a resounding _crack _and creating a crater on its head near the eye. The orb suddenly grows to about five times its previous size and being brought round to its left was used to block the white heads assault. It reeled back as its fangs shattered and broke, most likely not the first time its teeth had been hit in the fight. The orb then flattened to be a vertical circle, the tail being drawn out to the right side, and began spinning as spikes grew from the circle. As the saw was driven into the white head the black head began writhing and screeching in pain. In a fit of rage it flung itself to impact the white Grimm, knocking both it and the saw away. Unfortunately for it, the white head was already gone by now having been split down the middle almost to the neck by a giant golden saw.

The white Grimm got up, dissolving the saw blade that had once been and the light retracted back into its body. The area was once again cast in darkness. The black head turns away from the white head and hisses loudly, a promise of death. In kind, the white Grimm roars a challenge from the chest, deep in tone and daring in nature. The eyes and markings glow slightly, illuminating the skull mask in the black of night.

The black head moves first, slithering low to the ground through the tall grass. The moving grass approaches nearer and nearer to the white Grimm. When it appears close the white Grimm jumps back, narrowly dogging an attempt to eat it live. The black head hisses and moves in again, only for the process to continue until the white Grimm is almost at the edge of the clearing. As it charges one more time, it is stopped short by the dead weight of the white half. The white Grimm puts both hands out, wrists touching and palms outward, fingers clawed.

"Rock." An orb of gold erupts from the claws, swirling around itself. The black head turns around, seeing that it can't progress any further and whatever the other thing was doing it was bad.

"Paper." The orb flattens to a paper-thin circle between claw tips, burning with intense light. The black head is back at the white head, trying to push it back into the nest.

"Scissors." The circle elongates to the left, long enough to reach the escaping snake and then some. The snake itself had managed to push the white head in and was soon to follow.

"Shoot." The flat bar of light swings around in a semicircle, easily catching the retreating King Taijitu and a good portion of the nearby trees. The part of the snake that was above ground, including the head, had been sliced clean through. The flesh was cauterized by the intense heat the blade of light had produced. Since it was moving so fast, Ozpin and Glynda counted themselves lucky. It moved at speeds almost unable to dodge had they not been anticipating it, and they were out of range. Sharing a look between them, Glynda prepared her riding crop as Ozpin steps out into the clearing. Or would have if the white Grimm hadn't started speaking.

"Why do they think they can kill me? 'Oh sure, let's all go kill the guy who can make weapons out of pure light! We totally won't try to jump over each other as he mashes our heads into itty bitty tiny pieces! We'll make a plan and make sure we kill him for good! Then we can feast on all the tiny little bits we've cut him up in to after having sautéed him! What a treat!'" The Grimm, now it being confirmed as a male by the distinct masculine in his voice, shook his head as the bar of light dissolved back into him. "What a joke." Ozpin steps back slightly, waiting to see what will happen.

The white Grimm walks toward the deceased King Taijitu. Pushing the upper half of the split snake's head off, he started talking. "You know you were a pain in the ass for me, right? Let's see if you trying to eat me was worth it." His arm glows gold and without a second thought plunges it elbow deep into the cranial cavity. For a few seconds, nothing happens. Then both parts of the snake start to glow gold, dissolving into the same light and drawing toward the white Grimm. Every muscle in the Grimm appeared to have relaxed, taking in what was once the King Taijitu. After all the light disappears, he collapses on his knees.

"Damn... that was something like a week and a half of killing werewolves right there." Standing up to recover, everyone got a good inspection of his wounds. A long vertical gash down the right side of his chest from shoulder to waist, patches of fur missing on the forearm to reveal bone white skin, and various others. "Well... that was some good work I'd say." The wounds started to glow in an attempt to close and heal themselves. That was when Ozpin stepped out into the clearing.

-Phobophobia-

**A/N: Looking good so far. Random Omake time! King Taijitu PoV!**

The two heads of the King Taijitu flinched as a bright light flew down into their habitat, waking them up. The two heads shared a look and slithered up. Standing a few feet away was a birthed companion but with white fur, black bones, and gold markings and eyes. Wasn't this the one that ran from them last time the sky glared down with heat?

"Finally, do you have any idea how long it took me to find you?" The false birthed companion was indeed the one that ran from them last. They had questioned it, but none of their kin had white coat or black armor such as this one. They hissed, eager their meal had returned after so long.

"Whoa, sorry ladies, but that's not going to happen." The false birthed companion glowed with light, and a massive likeness of it was standing behind it, looking down menacingly. The two shared another look and rushed back down into its humble adobe.

"Huh... talk about a bad case of ain't nobody got time for that."


	4. Chapter 3, MindBlown

** A/N: The next chapter has arrived. Since hindsight is twenty/twenty I plan on going back and polishing up the first chapter within the next two weeks. Hopefully I'll have it updated by then.**

** Did you guys see the new episode? With Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury infiltrating beacon who knows what's going to go down. That's not even mentioning the giant mech seen in the teaser trailer...**

-Chapter Three-

-Me-

Absorbing a Werewolf or Bear is nothing. There's a tingle through your bones and a feeling of slight expansion, but not much else. Absorbing something larger, like a Yin-Yang snake, apparently creates a feeling of nausea. I hope that's only a one time thing because that's not going to me pleasant time and time again.

"You know it's not every day that one can say they witnessed an event like this." Damn. I whirl around and focus my mana through my claws and out, shaping it into long and thin claws extending from my natural ones. The world is still slightly spinning, I don't have time for more of these Furry-

"Human?" I blink twice not expecting what I saw. A bespectacled man in green with white hair holding what looks to be a cross between a cane and a blade. The man in green arches an eyebrow. I did a triple take. So there is humanity here and not just half animal assholes.

"Yes, human. What were you expecting, more Grimm?" Grimm. That's what those Furries a while back said I was. Egotistical bastards tried to put me in a cage. It was a bad move on their part.

"I was expecting a Furry, you know, people with animal ears and tails? Yeah, those guys."

"Hnn..." He stares at me for a small while with piercing amber gold eyes, emotionless and calculating. I stare back, a challenge in my eyes daring him to make a move against me. "You can put away your weapons." I look down at my claws, then look back up at him. I lower my arms but leave my claws out.

"Between you and your calm demeanor, I think I'm going to be a bit safer with my weapons out. That does not mean that I'm going to attack you, I'm simply being cautious. The last few people I met wanted to put me in a cage and find out what makes me tick, so forgive me if I'm more than a bit wary of other people." The man in green nods, his eyes never leaving mine.

"I can understand that kind of attitude. A Grimm with a soul would be a valued target for capture and study." He pauses, looking on with curiosity in his eyes. "Do you have a name?" At that I pause. It had always been me or someone trying to fight me so I never thought about giving someone my name. Not only that but the few people I have interacted with have wanted to poke and prod me on a nightly basis, so that could be used against me. If this is a dream realm for me though...

"I'm not giving you my name. I don't trust anyone here enough for that. With my condition of arrival in this place, I think the best name to go by would be Morpheus." He nods.

"I can understand your mistrust. Although if I may ask, what is your circumstance of arrival?" I narrow my eyes at him. Should I? Well, considering how he's not trying to stab me and is holding a civil conversation with me. So I'll hold a few bits of info back.

"To me this is a place I go when I sleep. A dream realm for myself, reality for others. When my time in this place is done, I fall asleep with the rising sun and wake up in my own body back home. Thus the name Morpheus."

"The mythological god of sleep and dreams, yes. So you are human when awake and when you go to sleep you arrive on Remnant in the body of a Grimm?" Remnant. Noted.

"Exactly." His next few spoken words were quiet and beneath his breath.

"A soul that travels..." Thank you enhanced hearing. "Well, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Ozpin, and I'm the principle at a school that trains young men and women to keep the last cities of Humanity safe from harm. These Hunters and Huntresses typically devote their lives to the cause for one reason or another, having trained from a young age to know how to fight for the continued existence of humanity."

"So what, you want me to enroll? What good would I do, I'm an eight foot tall walking ball of fur and death last time I checked. Would you use me to play pin the tail on the donkey? Oh wait, I already have a tail."

"Hardly. We would be able to provide a safe place for your Grimm body during the day and at night we would teach you about Remnant and assist you with your combat abilities."

"And in turn you would be able to keep a close eye on me should I go rouge, easily able to dispatch me in whatever way necessary based upon the situation." He was quiet for a second. The snap of a twig just behind the clearing was almost missed but I caught it. I lift my left hand up and turn the claws there into a bar, extending past the tree where the noise came from to illuminate a blonde woman with green eyes and glasses wearing a white blouse, black skirt, and tattered purple cape. Was that... a riding crop? "Heh, I didn't know you had a mistress Ozzy. So who really runs the show at school?" The woman sent me a dark glare while Ozpin rolls his eyes. "Ooh, am I detecting sexual tensions between the two of you? My spidey senses are tingling!" My following chuckle is worthy of the Joker, my grin- thankfully my entire face is masked- stretches across my face. I retract the bar and turn it back into the claws they were before.

"Morpheus, Glynda Goodwitch. Glynda, Morpheus." Glynda schooled her expression but I can still see some spiteful intentions being rolled my way.

"Heh. Glad to know I'm on the hateroll. Minimum wage is five hates an hour." I drop the snarky attitude. "To answer your question, no. I like my freedom the way it is and having someone breathing down my neck all the time isn't something I want."

"I see then. Tell me, how can I trust you not to harm my students should you ever encounter them?" I narrow my eyes, think about my words carefully, and speak.

"You can't." He narrows his eyes. "I'm not done. You have nothing to trust me by except a word you know you can't hold faith in. By all rights and means, you shouldn't trust me at all." Glynda pushes her glasses up her nose just a bit. "I can be violent, yes, but it stems more from me trying to survive than anything else. So long as your students don't intend to harm me, then I will not harm them. Should they intend to harm me, incapacitation takes priority over death. In short, my morals are a safeguard against my ability to kill." For the next few seconds, the clearing is quiet and filled with tension. Ozpin stares me down, and I stare back. The fact that my eyes glow solid gold when I use my magic doesn't help, so I draw my mana back into myself. The usual amount of mana lost can easily be regenerated over time but most of what I draw in returns to me. With my eyes no longer glowing solid gold they can see my eyes, gold irises and black sclera disappearing into the mask. The two seem a bit surprised at this since Grimm only have a solid red eye color.

"Very well then." Ozpin turns and starts walking away. Glynda follows shortly but turns around soon after.

"Should one of the students be harmed by your hand-"

"Then I will get to myself long before you could ever reach me, blondie." She bristles slightly, turns back, and walks away with Ozpin.

"So... that happened." I turn to the hole in the ground that once housed the Yin-Yang snake. If it's not too bad I might find a use for it. Maybe it'll be better than the cave.

-Phobophobia-

I'm back in my own body again, six feet tall and completely pampered compared to the life of a Grimm. I poke at my the shoulder that was bitten first thing that night, the bite wound was deep enough to scar my human body through the Morpheus Effect. Some things about it I will never understand, but the physical strength and then enhanced senses are a boon that I'm not going to question. The scars on the other hand... those I could do without. Switching out of my sleepwear and into some clothes makes me ready to start my day- lazy incarnate. Between work and Grimm I rarely get a day off like this. So I'm wasting my time cycling through AMVs when I see a teen in green fighting a Yin-Yang snake, soon followed by a blonde teen fighting a Bear.

_Whaa...?_

I look down at the name. The song was a few years old, but the name of the show is what got me. RWBY. I paused the video and opened up a new tab to Google it. What I found disturbed me. So... multiverse crossover? I searched my alias on the wiki and found nothing. So that means that while the separate line of events existed there were sub-lines that were altered in different ways. So then the multiverse is something akin to a series of primary strands that don't cross over with each other and hold the basic canon events but they have orbiting sub-strands that cross over with other sub-strands of other primary strands? Ah... this is going to get confusing. I should watch the show just to get some basic knowledge of the place anyways. Well, here goes something.

-Phobophobia-

**A/N: Finally out. Had a few issues with getting this done but I managed to get it out in time. Kind of.**


	5. Chapter 4, Payday RWBY

** A/N: Hey guys, here we are again with the next chapter. A few days late because of a small bit of writers block.**

** You guys see the newest episode? I think it's safe to say that we all knew Penny was going to be a robot. She had a panel in her back open up. If that isn't a big heads up then I don't know what is. My only question now is how the hell does the White Fang get their hands on the mechsuit?**

-Chapter Four-

-Me-

The line moves up a bit. I'm only a few more people away from cashing my check at the bank. Working at a local restaurant isn't bad, but that one specifically gets incredibly busy during the summer. Even so, the pay is well enough that I keep working there. My phone vibrates in my pocket. It's a message from my younger brother to get home soon. Impatient bastard.

"Everybody down on the ground, now!" Gunshots rang out sending those in the room into panic mode and screaming at the top of their lungs. I follow suit just as startled only without the screaming- having a bunch of Beowolves charge you on a nightly basis can do that to you. There were four men dressed in varying articles of clothing of black in color, each one with a pistol and ammunition belt, paintball masks, one orange, one red, one blue, and one green, with the red one wearing over the shoulder bags. A camera sparks in the corner of my sight. Looks like those were more than just warning shots. The robbers moved without another word. Either this was planned or they had experience doing this. For an instant I thought of Payday 2 and smirked.

The one with blue and green masks covered the door, the orange one herded the ten of us into an adjacent room, a small office with glass windows, and the red one went up to the teller who was a previously bored woman looking to be around her mid thirties. Orange stepped outside and closed the door, the glass wall letting him watch us intently.

The office was small, barely able to fit the ten of us that had been thrown in here which was why Orange stepped outside. The door was, when looking out from the desk, hugging the left wall which was one of the two glass walls. The left wall and the front wall were made of glass while the other two were drywall. Five seats were in the room, one behind the desk, two in front of the desk, and two on the right wall. Orange was standing behind the front wall, and behind him was the back wall of another office. To the left of the small hallway was the main area while the right led to a window. Behind the desk stood a few file cabinets. The desk in the room was covered in a few documents, a laptop that had been closed, a few pictured of kids and a family portrait, and a mug that held a few pens with the banks name on it. I took three of those and slid them inside my pocket, a small plan forming inside my crazy head and a mental thanks to the robbers for shooting the cameras. I can't just sit here and do nothing when I can help these people.

Red was talking with the teller, and Blue and Green were standing behind the doorway. After a few moments of talking Red brought his pistol up and shot at the teller. The glass shattered and we heard her scream. Red started yelling at her, his voice muffled because of the glass but it sounded something along the lines of opening the vault, no surprise there.

*pink* *pink*

Orange had tapped the glass with his firearm and motioned to a man looking to be in his late forties that had been trying to secretly text. He then motioned with his free hand the discharge of a gun aimed at him. With the message implied the man put away his phone but Orange motioned for him to come out. The man gingerly got up and walked outside, legs trembling and starting to sweat. He met Orange in the hall and the robber held a hand out. Reluctantly the man relinquished his phone to the man.

Orange pistol whipped the man in the jaw, set his phone on the ground, and shot at it twice. He spoke to the man, and while his words were muffled, the close proximity made it so that we could hear him.

"Now I want you to go back in there and sit down. Tell them that if I find one more person texted anything then I will shoot everyone in that room." The man dumbly got back up and walked inside while ribbing his jaw, now a bright red and bleeding in a few places from small punctures. Orange resumed staring at us. Red had disappeared into the back with the bank teller while that had happened and Blue and Green were still at the door. We heard the sounds of sirens outside. The two at the door opened fire with a few shots and we heard return fire. Green was grazed in the arm at one point and he pulled back. Blue did the same and the gunfire stopped. Moments passed before an officer on a bullhorn called out.

"Put down your weapons and surrender immediately!" Blue reached out and blind fired towards the voice. Red came back out dragging the teller by the back of the head and roughly released her to Orange, herding her into the room. That was when I made my move.

The office was small, barely enough to fit the ten of us. There were a total of five seats, one behind the desk, two in front of the desk, and two in front of the walls. I had taken one of the wall seats and as Orange was walking out I dashed forward. He brought the gun out towards me and fired, but by this time I had pushed the gun up away from me. The shot caused everyone in the room but the two of us to cower and scream in fear. Bringing out one of the pens, I brought it up to his jawline and sent just a bit of my semblance through the pen to make a thin and long golden spike. Through the middle of the golden spike I sent another spike out near the base of is head to sever the connection with the spinal cord. I sent another two both up and down the spinal cord just to make sure. I snatched the gun from him, lifted his body in front of me as a human shield, and opened fire on Red, breaking the glass after two shots and the last four bullets entering the filled bags and his back as he was a few feet from the door.

The pistol itself only has a magazine of eight bullets, so between the two bullets shot at the phone and the six shot at Red I had an empty clip. Easy enough. Push this button here and the clip falls out, grab ammo from belt, push in. How did I know this? In my sorry state at being able to draw ranged weaponry, I had downloaded a steam game that let you assemble, disassemble, field strip, and find out the inner workings of a variety of guns. It's a highly detailed simulator that had helped me to understand how a gun works. It also inadvertently helped me for this.

Blue and Green open fire before I had managed to grab a new clip. A few bullets graze my arms and legs, but nothing too bad and the body in front of me helps a good deal. Besides, I've had deeper wounds coming from a Beowolf. Slamming the new clip in, I take careful aim this time while aiming at Blue. Before he gets the chance to act I press down on the trigger and the bullet is sent flying. It hits him in the shoulder and staggers him giving Green the incentive to find cover. He flips a nearby couch and crouches behind it. I empty the rest of my clip into Blue and reload.

At this point in time, Red is face first on the ground bleeding from a bullet wound. Since I was preoccupied with Blue and Green when Red spun around and started shooting at me I was caught by surprise. I'm an idiot, as lucky as a person can get a few bullets in the back can't be enough to kill anyone.

"You were more trouble than you were worth." A pain erupted from my back and I felt sharp metal reaching into my flesh. The man from before, the one who had been pistol whipped was standing behind me in a white mask. "Killing one of our men and wounding three more. Now that's something. I'd invite you to our little group, but that isn't going to happen. Like I said, more trouble than you're worth." He pulled up leaving a profound gash in my back. I turn and punch him in the face giving my knuckles small spikes that were thin enough to not be noticed unless you were looking. I drag them down as his knife drags across my abdomen and chest, leaving yet another scar for the future. He grabs his broken mask and now dripping face. "Bitch! How the hell did you do that!"

"What can I say?" I grin, lopsided and lazy with an eye half closed. "I'm magical." I start coughing and he rakes his knife across my face. Still coughing and tasting a bit of blood I whirl around and bring my arm down to his face but he ducks under it and stabs me in my armpit. Note to painful self, the Morpheus Effect may give you muscles but it will not give you the training to properly use said muscles in a different body. Duly noted.

He grabs my throat and choke slams me. I cough up a bit of blood and try to get his hand off of me but he stabs my hand before I get to do anything.

"You're gonna die kid!" He pulls the knife out and goes for my throat. Damn it, I can't do anything! If I save myself then I'll have to run because of the other robbers and if I save myself and the hostages then I'll have to run because of my semblance, which is right now the only viable way to save everyone. I can't do anything!

"Freeze!" The knife punctures my throat. Blood starts gushing out as the officers start to move in and pacify the robbers. White pulls his knife out and starts running. The officers move in and one of them kneels over me,

"Someone get the medics in here! We're losing someone!" Oi. I'm right here. Oi.

Oi.

-Phobophobia-

Oi.

I blink twice. This is the cave that my Grimm body is in. I look down and see that I'm in a smoking charred mini crater. Surprisingly my human body is what greets me, as far as I can tell unblemished by scars and the wounds from that fight-

The fight. I panic. What the hell? Did I die? If so then how am I here? I look around for a clue. Nothing. I look back down at myself. Last time I checked I wasn't wearing any of this. A white v-neck tee shirt adorned my chest that was tucked into a pair of black loose fit pants bound by a black band at my waist. My feet were shod with light and simple black boots but with no laces or Velcro to speak of. They were a snug fit though and would probably be hard to take off. My hands have black fingerless gloves. The clothing was woven so that it looked like I was wearing a series of fur skins.

Off to the left, beyond the cave exit there was sunlight pouring in. This was the Emerald Forest from initiation. It was so beautiful during the day though, compared to at night. The awe I felt at seeing the forest like this overrode my panic. I could panic later, right now I had to explore- people are flying through the air?

Really Ozpin?

-Phobophobia-

**A/N: So after thinking about it, I should make a prequel to the story since kind of just dropping you guys off in the middle of this whole thing is how we started out. Or just rewrite the whole thing with improvements. What do you guys want to see?**


	6. Chapter 5, Monster Hunter RWBY

** A/N: Incoming chapter- wait, by the time you read this it'll be out. Never mind, next chapter is out!**

** Did you guys see the newest episode? There seems to be a trend about me mentioning the mech suit and then something happening with the mech suit. Now I want to know how Torchwick got his dastardly gloved hands on it. Speaking of, his new henchman reminds me of bubble gum and chocolate ice cream. Had there been a portion of her hair that was white or blonde between the pink and brown I would have made a joke about Neapolitan ice cream, but whatever.**

-Chapter Five-

-Me-

"Well... this is awkward." I was caught between two young women, just as confused as I am. The blonde on the left speaks her mind.

"So... who is teamed with who?" I turn to her.

"I think either one of you would end up unmanning me at any point in time because of a simple issue of privacy. You two can team up, I'll stay by myself for the time." Besides, I wasn't even a part of initiation.

"Well... I still could've taken him." The young woman on the right looked into the forest smirking again. She turned back to the two of us.

"So, what do we do now?" I shrug.

"Well, I'm just enjoying a nice walk in the forest. Trying to not get skewered alive by the occasional Ursa or Beowolf along the way but enjoying myself nevertheless. You two?" Blondie, the one on my left, spoke out first.

"I'm trying to find my sister. Looks like I won't be her partner though." The young woman on the right nodded. We stood there in awkward silence looking between the three of us. I decided to break it with a simple question that I already knew the answers to.

"So... names?"

"I'm Yang, and this is Blake!" I blinked at Yang, look over to a slightly annoyed Blake, then back at the blonde brawler, and finally back at Blake.

"She didn't even let you introduce yourself." She shrugged.

"I'm Blake." I nod.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Morpheus. Now you can either take the red pill or the blue pill." They smile a bit at my bad pun when a rustle comes out of the bushed behind me, followed by an Ursa. I pull my left elbow back and send a burst of my semblance through the outer corner of my arm, shaping it into a long spike that impales the Grimm strait through. I turn to the duo.

"So yeah, I can do that." I pull the spike back and bring it back into my body- soul? Actually, I retracted a lot more than I normally would have. Odd.

"Hey Morph, my eyes are up here." Yang is smirking, hip swung out with a hand on it, and a playful look in her eyes. Oh... I zoned out while staring at her... ah... cleavage. Yeah, that's the right word. Cleavage.

"As you saw, my semblance is basically the power of gold. I'm able to create, shape, and retract constructs limited only by creativity and aura at my disposal. Whenever I retract my semblance a portion of what I sent out is lost. Normally this sat at around a fifth of what was lost but that was just halved to a tenth. No idea why but I'm not complaining." I do have an idea but they don't know that I was a Grimm here until a few hours ago. "I kind of just zoned out while staring at your, ah..." I motion to her chest. "Cleavage." Her smirk widened.

"And were you planning on being caught while you 'zoned out'?" Blake tried to suppress a smirk. My right eye twitched twice. What?

"Yang, if I'm going to stare at your tits I'm going to make it obvious." That wiped the smirk off her face. "That wasn't an excuse, that was a reason. Make no mistake, I fully believe there are those who have used zoning out as an excuse, but an excuse is a lie. A reason is the truth." I shrug. "Well, whether or not you believe me is up to you. But as I said, reason. Not excuse." I clap my hands together. "Now then... which way are we headed?"

-Phobophobia-

"And tell me again WHY THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA?!" Yang looks at me.

"SHUT UP AND KEEP RUNNING!" Another tree falls prey to our chasing Deathstalker.

"WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" And that was Nora deciding to pitch in as she used Magnihild to rocket jump over a large rock that she had put intentionally in her path. I turn to our green clad pink eyed friend, Lie Ren.

"Out of genuine curiosity, how do you deal with her on a daily basis?"

"Patience, acceptance, and a lot of patience." I nod.

"I can respect tha-" *Thunk* "Ah! DAMN IT RUBY, I ALMOST GOT A FEATHER SHAPED ARROW IN THE KNEE!"

"Sorry!"

"WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT SWEARING IN FRONT OF MY SISTER?!"

"OH SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII-" A blast from Yangs Ember Celicia shuts me up as it lands inches from my feet. Needless to say I start to run faster. I turn to Ruby. "Sorry about that. But seriously, was riding a Nevermore- which is a level of insanity I can respect by the way- the only thing you could think of?" Yeah, Yang is staring at me right now. I can feel the burn just waiting to happen.

"Well it was the fastest way to get here..." *Thunk* A close one narrowly dodged by Ruby.

"You can respect that madness?! You must be insane yourself!"

"Ah Weiss, how sane you must be. I'll have you know that I still retain half my sanity. But only half, the other half went out the window a few years ago. Just remember Ice princess, logic dictates madness and madness dictates logic."

"What did you just call me?! And how does that even make any sense?!"

"Well, to help you understand it-" *Thunk* "never mind, we're in a forest being chased by a Nevermore and a Deathstalker. Right now, all I care about is how good you are with the blade at your hip." I think for a second. "Plus, you just proved my point in calling you an Ice Princess, Hime-chan." Blake turns to me.

"Really? Hime-chan?"

"What?" *Thunk* She stares at me, "No seriously, what?"

"You haven't read-" She clams up and glances around us wide eyed and pupils dilated. "Never mind." Oh dear, Ninjas of Love reference without even knowing it? What have I gotten myself into... *Thunk* The Nevermore cries out as Jaune is grazed by a feather.

"Ah!" Pyrrha then decides that freaking out over Jaune is the smartest thing to do. While being chased by a Nevermore and a Deathstalker.

"Jaune!" I scope the surrounding terrain. Close to the large castle but not close enough to make a run for it with a wounded Jaune, who had been sheared in the right calf. The Nevermore flying above us was visually blocked because of the trees. The Deathstalker was inbound and it was knocking down trees that got in its way. Troublesome. Future team RWBY unhurt, future JNPR leader wounded, and myself unharmed. Not too bad but could be- ah, Murphy isn't ruining this one.

"We need to take care of the Deathstalker first, the Nevermore is an issue but unless we get to the castle we can't deal with it because of a lack of suitable terrain."

"And getting there is going to be an issue with my leg the way it is- Ah!" Pyrrha is shouldering Jaune because of his wound, worry visibly etched across her face. Twenty bucks I can get them to make out in the castle. Wait, Lien.

"Don't worry Jaune! You'll be fine as soon as we get out of here." The Deathstalker is getting closer and the Nevermore is circling around us, watching our moves very carefully. Some of the feathers are growing back at a rapid rate, visible even at this distance.

"We need to move before the Nevermore gets more feathers to shoot!" I come up with an idea. "Pyrrha, get Jaune inside the castle! Ren, Nora, on the Deathstalker with me! You four, shoot at the Nevermore! Try to keep it off of the rest of us. Let's move people!" I run at the Deathstalker to not leave room for debate. Ren and Nora follow suit, appearing at my sides as we near the Deathstalker. Mechanical thunking sounds off behind us and is soon followed by various sounds of discharge, courtesy of the future members of team RWBY. The Deathstalker screeches at the same time as the Nevermore and the battle begins.

As the Deathstalker approaches it swings its right claw at us, Ren and Nora jump over it while I fashion a massive hand to hold it and keep it at bay. The stinger comes down at the two who are now on its head and the other claw comes at me, so I jump up, let the claw go with the hand and as it crashes its own claw into its other claw I bat the stinger out of the way, leaving the two on its head to wreak havoc on its face as the stinger buries itself into the ground. As a hammer, Magnihild crashes into the skull plate leaving it cracked and bloody while Ren pulls out Stormflower and slashes at some of the eyes. Angered by their actions, the now partially blind Deathstalker snaps its claws up at the two of them but a bubble shield around the head from me keep them safe.

"Hack away gents! Wait... can they even hear-"

"YAAAAH!" Well, that's Nora for you. Another crack sounds and the Deathstalker, who by now is screeching in pain as one of the claws comes strait at me- oh. I send pillars out from under my feet and as the claw knocks them out from under me I jump up off of the pillars, leaving me in midair. A mini parachute solves that problem but now it's trying to get at the bubble. I send more of my semblance through it so now about half my aura is in that thing.

Ren is a fast skirmisher fighter from what I saw in the episodes, and that is proven to be true in reality just as Nora is proven to be a fighter that can get in the fight fast and deal a lot of damage with her heavy weapon, with the ability to keep up with Ren in terms of speed but outclassing him in burst damage while Ren outclasses her in attack speed and damage per second. Am I really thinking about these people like they are champions in League of Legends?

"Drop the shield!" With Ren yelling like that I drop it, retract the majority of my aura that made the shield, and the two jump off, Ren running away as fast as he can and Nora laughing while switching Magnihild to grenade launcher form. As soon as I hit the ground I follow Ren as fast as I can. The skull plate is heavily cracked, oozing blood, and the Deathstalker is now completely blind. The pink powdered grenades do nothing to help the Deathstalker, crashing into the broken head and exploding on contact.

"Well then." Ren and I look on as Nora, clothes bloodied from smashing a hammer into a broken skull and later exploding said skull, laughs while singing 'I'm queen of the castle!' over and over. "I'm sure that could be described as a splitting headache." Ren rolls his eyes and I smile sadly while sighing. "I know that was a bad one, but I had to do it." I turn to see the others progress. Jaune and Pyrrha had just entered the castle, the bridge was still standing, and the future team RWBY had perched themselves atop the various pillars while firing at the Nevermore. The Nevermore itself was circling the ancient building, occasionally flinging a few feathers at the Huntresses in training in an attempt to hit them but they always moved out of the way before they were hit.

"We should help them." I nod in agreement.

"Ooh! Can we smash the giant birdie? I wanna smash the giant birdie Ren! Can I can I can I?" He sighs and I chuckle quietly.

"Yes Nora, we can smash the giant birdie." Not a second after he finishes he's being dragged off by Nora. I once again chuckle.

"Well, better remove the carcass." I walk up to the head, squishing the occasional brain matter underfoot, send my semblance into my arm, and dive my hand into what's left of the brain. The blood and brain matter splattered all over the place dissolve alongside the rest of the body, leaving the emerald grass as it was before the blood and brains. Oh I'm feeling nauseous now... I turn to the castle and make my way there, slowly shaking off my nausea. No sense in wasting time and no sense in pushing myself too hard.

I just barely make it across the bridge, the Nevermore having seen me and crashing into the bridge in an attempt to get me. Entering the building greets me with the sight of a long abandoned fortress, cobwebs as thick and numerous as the forest shrubbery and a thick layer of dust- actual dust and not magical dust- that had been disturbed as Pyrrha carried Jaune to a nearby pillar, Jaune now leaning up against it with Pyrrha keeping pressure on the gash.

"You two okay?" Pyrrha nods.

"Yeah, we're all right."

"Easy for you to say... ow, my leg..."

"Don't worry Jaune, we'll get you out of here." I nod.

"Yeah, you'll be... fine... ACHOO!" Ah, shit. All this dust that was just kicked up my walking in isn't doing me any good. "I'm going outside to wait..." At least my nausea is wearing off. Don't think I'll try to get at that Nevermore any time soon. Just as I walk outside I get to see Ruby jump off to decapitate the Nevermore. At least that remained the same. Ruby runs up the side of the cliff and jumps up, bringing Crescent Rose through the neck and making it rain... flower petals? What? I know that was in the show, but now that it's reality that's a bit odd how that happens.

"Achoo!" This attracts the attention of the four girls. Why are they just... staring at me?

"What?"

-Phobophobia-

**A/N: And that's a wrap. Sorry this is a day late, went to go see Guardians of the Galaxy at the movies and forgot to update before hand. I had abit of difficulty describing the mechanic of my semblance, I initially had one thing planned then I realized what I had written in earlier chapters and it didn't fit so I revised and came up with this. I'm not even done explaining it, in fanfic I don't even know that much about it. It is based off of the Green Lantern and Sinestro Corp power rings though. Until next time.**


	7. Chapter 6, Sideburns and Cereal

** A/N: So after having to crank this out on the last day, here it is. Sorry if it's not as good, I bought Guild Wars 2. Good game but too much level grinding.**

** Did you guys see the new episode? I'm glad they started making info vids on RWBY, there's a lot we don't know about Remnant in general. While it did cover the basics of Dust I would like to see more on the basic types and combined forms of Dust.**

**UPDATE: I felt as if I could have written a portion of this better. So I replaced my wake up call with a different routine. Idea from the Ice Bucket Challenge, as idiotic as it is.**

-Chapter Six-

-Me-

All the other people who had taken part of initiation had arrived on the cliff in time. I manage to sneak away when the others are distracted by Cardin being, well, Cardin. No surprise there. I take the time to truly look at the world around me. The Emerald Forest is a beautiful place. With no surprise, much of the greenery is a vibrant emerald, and aside from the recent fighting and broken trees a tranquil place. Now if only someone could get rid of all the Grimm.

"It is a beautiful forest, isn't it?" I turn right to see Ozpin standing there with a small smile on his face. He too is looking at the scenery. The sun is overhead, casting a warm smile down on the forest. Sunlight seeps through the leaves, illuminating the forest in a golden green light that paints the forest in an almost ethereal feeling.

"It is." We stand there for a few moments just looking around us.

"Sometimes I forget just how beautiful this world can be. The Grimm can make this place difficult to live in." I nod.

"I should know. I was one of them until about an hour ago. At least..." I turn to face him. He had lost his smile for a longing look in his eyes. "Only at night. I don't think we ever got to shake hands." I hold my hand. "Hi. My name is Morpheus." He smiles just bit and shifts his mug into the hand he's holding his cane in.

"Hello. My name is Ozpin. I'm the Headmaster at Beacon Academy." He shakes my hand. "You know you're going to need a last name. You can't run around saying your name is just 'Morpheus'."

"Hmph. Thinking of enrolling my, Ozzy?"

"By law I would have to take you in. You are a potential danger to the school and to Vale if left unchecked. You assisted in taking down a Deathstalker and proved to be effective at supporting those you were allied with. This proves you are at a level where you can effectively learn and adapt to the dangerous environment that being a Hunter entails. Unless you are registered by one of the four cities as both a citizen and a Hunter in training that is."

"I sense a 'but'."

"However, I can see the value of having someone who owes me a debt." I raise an eyebrow.

"What do you want from me."

"I want someone to spy on the White Fang for me." The other eyebrow shot up.

"That's a tall order."

"I would provide you with basic necessities such as records and legal documents and housing until I finalize everything. In return I want you to spy on the White Fang for me."

"And if I say no?" He takes his mug back into his empty hand and takes a sip from it.

"Then I will have to turn you in. No questions asked."

"Alright... I'll do it. Not that I have much of a choice anyhow."

"You did not have a choice at all."

"Ozpin, even if one path ended badly for me, it was still a choice I could have made. Granted it wouldn't have been a very beneficial one, but even so still a choice." He ponders this for a moment.

"Yes... I suppose it was. Now then, let's get you some records."

"A hot shower and a soft bed would be nice in the meantime."

"We could all use a bit of rest now and again."

-Phobophobia-

_It's the sound of a deep rumbling that wakes me. I open my eyes to see that this isn't even my own room. I'm in a massive cave that's about to collapse on me. I get up, stumble over myself- why do I have a tail? The rumbling deepens and I look up. Rock, dirt and stalactites are falling. I look for an exit- there. Close by. I run, almost tripping over myself. What the hell is going on? A stalactite falls a little too close to me. Less think more run, got it. I barely make it out as the cave collapses on itself. Whatever happened in there I don't want to know. I take a look at myself._

_ "What... the hell?" I have the body of a nightmare. Bleached white fur ripples across my body as I move my limbs. Twisting black bone like structures adorn my chest, hands and feet. Fingers and toes tipped with black claws greet me as I stare at myself. A tail, my tail, twists and turns behind me. I reach up to my face and more bone is there, shaped around my head as a skull with horns._

_ "What the hell is this?" An unearthly howling sounds off close by. Followed by at least a dozen more. No need to tell me to move twice. I turn and start running._

"Hey... hey! He's not waking up."

"I have an idea..." The four start whispering and despite a few raised voices about not doing it, they decide. Then they leave the room. Maybe I should lock the door. Well, a few more seconds of sleep never hurt anyone. *Splash*

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!" Team RWBY is standing in my room, with Yang in full-blown laughter, Ruby standing there with a sorry look on her face while trying not to laugh, Blake smirking and Weiss is in the same boat as Blake. Weiss finally broke with a chuckle and a giving comment.

"Okay, so maybe that was a little funny." Yang finally stops laughing to speak.

"Thanks for the ice, Weiss." She then proceeds to laugh even harder.

"Yang, was it really necessary to drench me IN BUCKET OF FREEZING COLD WATER FIRST THING IN THE MORNING?"

"Well, you have been asleep for the past day. So yeah."

"Thank you. Now please leave."

"You're going to miss breakfast."

"I'll need a few minutes." They nods and leave. Ruby pops back in for a second.

"Oh, and Ozpin wants to see you after you've eaten breakfast." I nod in thanks and after she leaves I let out a sigh. Death sure does take its toll I guess. I look around the spare room that had been given to me for the time, because all but one member of a team died during initiation. The one remainder on the team had been transferred to another team, who had lost a member during initiation. Funny how life works out in the end.

I finally get off my lazy ass and grab the clothes I woke up in the day before. It doesn't feel right not wearing them. Then again, sleeping in a pair of boots isn't a normal thing. Sweatpants and a tee shirt, sure. Combat boots, pants, and muscle shirt? Nope. I head off to the bathroom, take a quick shower, get dressed, brush my teeth and make sure I have the same face, and aside from my eye color- now a vibrant gold- everything is still the same. Round face, pale complexion, wide angular cheekbones, close cut black hair and most importantly, majestic fucking sideburns. Jaw length conduits of majestic energy on the sides of my face, the only thing better is if I could grow wings from them and fly away. I probably can with my semblance... The first chance I get I'm doing it.

When I do get there most of the cafeteria is filled with people. It's the same cafeteria from the food fight scene in season two. I want to be there for that fight, but it's probably not going to happen. Oh well, let's take a look at what's in for breakfast. Pancakes, waffles, scrambles eggs, screw that let's grab some cereal. Now the only question is where to sit. Most of the cafeteria is filled to the brim but many students are gathered close together. There are a few spaces in between groups but the largest one is only a span of a few seats. Someone is waving in the crowd. It's Nora, both surprisingly and unsurprisingly, with a massive smile on her face. Eh, what's the worst that could happen?

...

Why do I have the feeling I'm going to regret thinking that?

-Phobophobia-

**A/N: Here you are. Not an action chapter but leading to something big. I initially started this just thinking 'oh okay let's make a self insert where the main character isn't op or some shit like that'. Well, I won't be, but the plot has managed to twist itself in my head and I HAVE TO DO THIS, caps lock necessary. This is not negotiable, time travel will happen and minds will be fucked. Now if you excuse me I have to go back to scheming.**


	8. Chapter 7, Clockwork Settings

** A/N: Here's the next chapter for you guys. I realize the previous chapter wasn't as initially as good as I wanted it to be so that has been updated to be a bit more clear and more in character. I hope.**

** Did you guys see the new episode? I kind of hate the fact that Mercury just quit in the middle of a match. He should have at least finished it in my opinion. Blake not sleeping enough isn't helping at all though. She's grouchy and obsessed with finding out about the White Fang, and obsession like that can have negative side effects.**

-Chapter Seven-

-Me-

Ozpins' office is large, circular, and unsurprisingly green in color. Overhead clockwork spins slowly for a purpose unknown, clicking in a very low pitch that could be considered soothing if I were tired behind a green glass. Ozpin himself is situated in front of a window bearing the design of a clock overlooking the school, sitting behind a bronze colored desk with various orderly office supplies and documents located on it. In the center there looks to be a computer like object propped up colored with the same shade of bronze color as the rest of the room.

"Ah, good. You're here." I walk up to the desk, the lack of chairs somewhat concerning me but then a hole in the glass opens and a chair circles around the room from above the clockwork, connected to the above space by a multi-jointed arm, and settles in front of the desk.

"You have a very nice office Ozpin." I sit down in the bronze chair and find out that it is indeed bronze.

"Thank you. It was designed by the first headmaster of Beacon and I make sure that it remains in the best of conditions."

"I can't imagine you crawling around the clockwork with a rag and wrench in hands." He smiles gently.

"Which is why I pay people to do it for me."

"Sensible. You wanted to see me?"

"Yes. As I said I want you to spy on the White Fang for me. You existed as a Grimm at night for a year. You have a rough fighting style and you have an unlocked aura and semblance. This may seem a bit unusual if the White Fang look into you and find a lack of records, but I took the liberty to forge you an identity here on Remnant. The only thing I'm missing is a last name. I would have given you one, but it is your identity you wish to create." A last name... I really am creating a whole new life for myself, aren't I? Well I do have the power of gold, so why not use the Latin word for it?

"Aurum. Isn't that technically illegal?" He enters a few things on the computer as I speak.

"Actually, no. Since all humans and Faunus are living within one of four places on Remnant, it's very rare to find someone not in the system and thus there are no laws around forgeries. Finding person outside the system would only happen if the person was born in secret and kept a secret, out of one of the kingdoms, or your case." I nod.

"All you need is a way in and you can do almost anything with enough skill."

"Exactly. Now all we need are a few more pieces of information and a decent back story." For the next half hour we talk about essential things such as where I came from and all that fun stuff. Once we're finished Ozpin takes something out from behind the computer screen and hands it to me. It's a scroll, a bit larger than a smartphone with a yellow diamond in the middle. "This is your scroll. I'm not sure if you had anything similar to one back where you came from but this will contain contact information, contact methods, personal files, and you can access the datanet of the kingdom you're in on it." I nod.

"Yes, there is something similar back home. Thank you. I should be able to figure out how to work it in time." I pocket it, saving it for later. "Anything else?"

"Normally we would have you in classes, but since you're not officially a part of Beacon Academy all I'll ask of you is that you don't disturb the than that you have free reign of the day and are restricted to the same areas that first year students are. You leave for Vayle tomorrow morning. Your scroll will have more details in it that will be deleted once you access it. I advise you keep it to yourself. There is a map of Beacon within the scroll itself should you ever find yourself lost. Please behave yourself and don't cause too much trouble while you're here." He stands up and I follow suit. The chair spins back around and disappears up beyond the green glass, the hole closing silently. He holds his hand out. "I look forward to your cooperation in the near future." I shake his hand.

"Thank you Ozpin." He smiles.

"You are welcome."

-Phobophobia-

The library is massive. The walls and floor are a soft light chocolate color that seems to glow in the morning sun. Massive bookshelves line the walls and stretch up into the cathedral height room, filled to the brim with stone colored books that have green lines stretching across the cover. The ends of the bookshelves have glowing green holographic projectors that can actually be pressed. It seems similar to the Forerunner hard light technology in the Halo series. I find an empty table and sit at the far end, near one of the windows and pull out my scroll. Time to find out how this thing works.

The most obvious thing is the yellow diamond in the middle so I press that. The two halves of the scroll slide out and a thin screen activates. A simple blue screen greets me with the date, time, and a slide to unlock function. All in all it seems like a regular smartphone. I slide open the scroll and take a look around the device, which is indeed extremely similar to a smart phone. I find the files that Ozpin said he made and open them. A simple group of files that explained my basics such as name, date of birth, blood type, et cetera. Half the stuff I don't even know is true or not such as blood type, the other half I know isn't true.

I fiddle around with the piece of technology, finding out how it works and taking a look at things such as the settings. More students enter the library and some leave, all of them passing by me and some giving me a few odd looks. Once in a while a student will walk in and look for a book and eventually grab something off of the shelves. They all leave me alone. I can't blame them, I'm a lone student sitting in the library with his scroll doing nothing.

Eventually I manage to figure out the good majority of what there is to know and I set my scroll down. Now what? I walk up to the bookshelves and look at the books. Black words cover the slate grey books, all on the subject of Dust. I find one that seems rather simple, _Dust; What is it? _by Sir William Schnee and sit down at my seat and start reading. Might as well find out everything I can.

-Phobophobia-

**A/N: And that's a wrap. So I'm trying to tone down on the ways this story is branching out in my head. With my involvement it's obviously going to be a little AU but I'm trying to n ot make it too AU, even at this point in time. Opinions and such arevery welcomed.**


	9. Chapter 8, Sharp Fangs

**A/N: Hello again. Here I am with the next chapter and my thoughts on the newest episode. Please note that when I came out with chapter two the newest episode was season two episode one so that's the extend of my... ficself(?) knowledge.**

** Did you guys see the new episode? I think it's kinda funny that Ruby can't balance in high heels. I can see it now, the interrogation session by Ruby towards Weiss. The part that got me really interested was the part about how Ruby and Yang have seperate mothers. I thought it would have been fathers, since both have referred to Summer as their mother. Now I can add more to my schemes.**

-Chapter Eight-

-Me-

I check my scroll for the time. It's Nine thirty-eight PM, almost a full twelve hours since I left Beacon this morning. I've also found what I was looking for. A White Fang recruiting rally. The building is a factory right in Vales' industrial area, one of many if it were not for the line of Faunus trying to hide themselves. Time to join.

I hide in an alley and set down my backpack. It's Emerald Forest Camo so that actually looks like it could blend in with the Emerald Forest. Of course it stands out a bit in the dark but then again it has tons of pockets. There's only three spare sets of clothes, a navy blue hoodie woven to look like rolling waves, a toothbrush, and a copy of _Ninjas of Love _I bought earlier that day with Ozpin having been kind enough to sneak a thousand Lien into my pack. I pull out the hoodie and slip it on, pulling the hood up to hide the fact that I'm not a Faunus, and get in line. I get the occasional odd look but nothing too bad until I reach the front of the line. Two White Fang members looking bored out of their minds are standing there, one with a roster for newbies. Both are armed with medium sized rifles and behind them is a crate for White Fang masks. The one with the roster speaks out.

"Name and hood."

"Morpheus Aurum." I take the hood off and I can feel them wake up so to speak when they notice the lack of Faunus attributes.

"What's a Human doing here?"

"So what?" The two White Fang recruiters look pissed now. I think they're irritated at my question.

"What do you mean 'so what'? You're human so get out." The one holding the roster puts the roster down and brandishes a rifle aiming at my face. Silver tongue don't fail me now.

"Tell me, what is the purpose of the White Fang?" The two recruiters look at each other, confused. Before them is me, a kid with nothing but a half filled backpack and the clothes on his back standing in line to be recruited by the White Fang. The Faunus behind me are growing slightly restless, nervous. I can smell it, taste it in the air. Just like before.

_These animal people, Furries, whatever the hell they are, are charging me with swords in hands._

"We're going to make ourselves at the top, push down every single Human as they have pushed us down. We're going to get payback." A few affirmative sounds come from behind me, the air energizing with their rising courage and hate, their eagerness to rip me to shreds showing.

_I move as the first one comes at me with a downward swing, dodging to the left and bringing my right hand up through his abdomen and chest. My claws rip through far easier than they should have as his chest erupts in a fountain of blood and gore._

"If that is true then the White Fang is no better than every single Human who hates the Faunus species as a whole." I swing my hand out for the added drama. "Look around you! If you plan on usurping a spiteful society then all you will end up doing is-" The gun is slammed into my face, knocking me down and giving me a broken nose.

"Shut up kid, nobody wants to hear your shit." The gun is aimed at me again, this time my chest.

"-end up creating a corrupt society of your own." The White Fang member scowls and as he pulls the trigger I send my semblance into my clothes hoping to harden them into armor. What none of us here expect is for my clothes to absorb my semblance, drawing it completely out and a golden light sending everyone reeling back. I stood up, feeling rippling muscles beneath fur covered skin. The weight of my Grimm bones welcomes me and I flick my tail.

_The smell of his innards permeates the air with his death, but one thing above all else stands out. Feeling it is a sensation that I cannot describe as I have not felt it before in my life. Even so I know what it is by nature, for I have felt the very same emotion grip my own heart before._

The Faunus, both White Fang and not, look on in fear. Now before them in the place of a Human that was an easy target was an eight foot tall Grimm, a monster that they had been told had no soul and many were taught to kill. I can feel it in their hearts...

_This emotion has a name. It is called fear, for it grips the hearts of man and woman with an icy grip stronger than the strongest steel._

"It is called fear." The small crowd before me cowers as I speak. A Human turning into a Grimm was one thing but a Grimm speaking is another. "Fear is one of many things that leads to survival. Over the past year this is what I have discovered drives many people to do many things whether they be Human, Faunus or even Grimm. The need to survive stands strong in the minds of man and woman. Fear is a force of nature that drives us to survive..." I lean in closely to the White Fang recruiter that had attempted to kill me. "... but it does not force us to hate. Now then, may. I. Enter." It was more of a command than anything. He nodded eagerly, his heart gripped coldly by the embrace of fear. The crowd behind me was in the same state with some even crying. The other White Fang recruiter was stock still but suddenly his heart became engulfed in an inferno of hate. He went to bring his gun up but a flick of my tail I knocked his gun out of his hands. With a quick step and a slash his chest is wide open and he is on his back.

_The rest of the Furries looked on in shock, hearts quivering by shock and gripped by fear. Suddenly one of them was engulfed in hate, and one of them charged. The rest soon followed, braving the dangers ahead to avenge their deceased comrade._

My semblance feels different, like it's surrounding me instead of within me. If I can pull it back within... I pull my semblance back inside me and I dissipate into golden particles, reshaping into my human self. The clothes I woke up in are once again resting on my body with a feeling of rightness. I walk up and grab one of the grey masks from the crate behind them and pick up the scroll that has the list of new entries. I place my own name at the bottom of the list and walk inside, fitting the mask on as I do so. The main room is just beyond the doorway and as I enter the room quiets down. I can feel fear, hate, contempt and nervousness in the room. There is also...curiosity?

"Morpheus Aurum, huh? Not a bad name." The voice is above me, the heart tilting with curiosity and a second flat with boredom. A young man, no older than myself, hops down from the catwalk above with a scroll in hand. He is dressed in black and blue-grey clothes with the same shade of blue-grey hair. Fair skinned and armored arms show that he's training to be a hunter, or something along the lines. He collapses the scroll and puts it in his pocket. "Oh, I'm sorry. Allow me to introduce myself. Mercury Black, at your service." He bows playfully, embellishing the bow with a little twirl of his hand, and stands back up. "We don't get many humans in the White Fang. What brings you here?"

"I'm going to answer your question with a question. What do you feel when you look at society?" He arches an eyebrow.

"I feel like I'm looking at a bunch of idiots. What do you feel?"

"Like society can do better." I walk on and leave him behind, letting him contemplate my answer. There's another source of curiosity though... two of them actually. I walk up to where the line of new recruits are and swallow my fear. I'm in a room filled with hateful people who would like nothing more than to kill me, most of them are armed and there has to be more than just Mercury who is on a Hunter level of skill. All I am is just a kid with a backpack and the ability to turn into a Grimm. All sound stops as Torchwick walks out into the scene on one of the conveyor belts.

"Ladies, gentlemen, that one Human in the crowd..." I scowl, what a way to point me out. "I know you've been having some rough spots lately. We all have, but none more so than you people. Except you." He specifically points at me for this and my scowl deepens. "Now, I know what you're thinking; Roman Torchwick, how can you say all this when this is a time of peace and prosperity? Well look around you! You people, except you, are being trampled on by a society that hates you for no apparent reason other than the fact that you are Faunus. Except you. So you have a little bit of extra fluff and you can see in the dark. Now we hate you." The crowd is grumbling at his words. "That is the exact reason why you are here tonight, isn't it? To change all that and make a better world for yourself. Personally sometimes I hate Humanity myself. So here's the deal I'll make with you. Join the White Fang and I'll make sure you get the world you want." The crowd murmurs as Torchwick leaves the impromptu stage. Another White Fang member, this one with a full facial mask, walks in.

"Alright, new members follow me! Anyone who doesn't want to join, get out!" The guards in the room bring their rifles out. I can tell that most of them are aimed at me. Some of the people in the room book it out the door but most of us stay. Well, this will be one hell of a time. I can tell.

-Phobophobia-

"You know, being one of five Humans in this place is pretty boring."

"Nghh... and?" Mercury smirks at me.

"I'm saying I want you to know that since your human you don't have to go through the three weeks of basic training. Cinder is extending in offer to train you herself, along side us of course." I walk over to the next crate of Dust and pick it up.

"What good would that do for me? They already hate me, using more training as an excuse would make them hate me even more. Nghh..." I set the crate down next to the others. "I would appreciate it if you would get off my pile though." The grey haired man was sitting on top of the pile I had made, three boxes high, ten crates long, and he wasn't getting off.

"Hmmm... no." I sigh and walk over to the other crates. The other recruits are giving me odd looks, even though I'm the one that's being handicapped and Sarge, our drill instructor, can't do anything about him because he's one of Cinders' kids. In other words Mercury can kick his ass six different ways to sunday without breaking a sweat. I pick up the next crate and walk over to my pile, setting it down in front of him.

"Ooh, more Dust for me? Thanks. I'll be sure to tell Cinder how polite you are."

"Shut up."

"Oh now that wasn't very polite now was it?"

"Stop antagonizing him Mercury.

"Yes Cinder." Coming out from behind the pile was Cinder herself, the woman in red with piercing gold eyes. The other recruits scattered when they saw her, doing their work either eagerly or fearfully. Behind her was Emerald, the dark skinned girl smirking at Mercury who responded with a scowl and took his place on the other side of Cinder.

"Would you at least let me finish before we begin?" Cinders' eyes narrow and the two behind her glance at me.

"Demanding things of me like that will get you nowhere."

"Leaving things unfinished isn't a habit I've taken to kindly. Besides, that was a question above all else." She regards me for a moment.

"Very well then. Finish then come find me." She walks away with her two lackeys behind her. I turn to my work and pick up the crate I had set down in front of the pile. We are taking the crates from the newest shipment and stocking them in a secret room inside a pro-White Fang warehouse. Stack them four rows wide, four columns high and ten lines long. It would be easy they said. Yeah well nobody said anything about a wild Mercury showing up. Go, Pikachu! I choose you! It had to be said.

-Phobophobia-

** A/N: So we have BT in the White Fang, curious Cinder(swiggity swoogity I'm comin for that booty) being curious, and we have no idea what's coming next. I had a bit of difficulty writing this chapter out, I couldn't get it the way I wanted it to be until writing it like this. Well, until next week.**


	10. Chapter NINE NINE NINE NINE NINE NINE NI

** A/N: So another week has gone by and a new episode of RWBY has come to grace us with its majesty. I know there have been gracious amounts of timeskips but there's not really much in season one other than the White Fang at the end and I don't want to throw in any OCs just to fill in space.**

** Did you see the newest episode? What. The. Fuck. Jaune... I... I just... I can't... what? What did I even see? No... no the memories... it hurts, it's painful... Jaune stop... Let's... let's move on. So, Cinder. I kind of liked the way she was portrayed in the episode. She relied on more than just her semblance which is nice because it shows she can rely on more than just one set of skills.**

-Chapter Nine-

-Cinder-

The weeks roll by smoothly for our little operation. We almost have enough Dust for the plan and then we can initiate stage two soon. White Fang recruits have been coming in slowly but steadily, providing needed manpower for the grunt work outside of the city.

"And I'm telling you he doesn't even care!" Oh? Emerald walks in with Mercury close behind her, ranting about the same person that we have been fixated on for the past few weeks. "Honestly, you'd think he has the decency to at least act like he cares." Emerald smirks and half turns to the boy.

"If I didn't know better I'd say you miss his company already." He scoffs and turns his attention to me.

"Why is he so important to us again? He's not even trained. The only thing half decent about him is his ability to turn into a Grimm." I walk over to the grey haired boy.

"Haven't I already told you? You'll know what you know when you need to know." He scowls and stalks off to a darker section of the room.

"I'm over here if you need me."Emerald soon follows. The next few minutes is a tense silence interrupted by the slight sounds of Mercury and Emerald spar lightly with each other. I walk back into the shadows, the clink of my high heels echo off the almost empty factory we had set up. The factory is the same grey as the city with two levels to it, the first being the production floor with production equipment and the second being a series of catwalks stretching across the massive room above everything else. The roof is made primarily of glass to allow natural light to filter in letting the broken waning crescent to shine its light down. Eventually the subject of the past few weeks arrives. He opens the door without a care in the world. He's dressed in the same clothes he came here in with the White Fang jacket hanging on his frame, his pack slung over his right shoulder and the standard White Fang rifle hung over his left. A magazine belt is hooked in a few belt loops and hangs low on his waist.

"Well. Here I am." He drops his pack on the ground and it lands with a thud. The warehouse is now silent with its newcomer. The two stopped sparring to watch what would happen. There's no time like the present to begin, and I do so with two words.

"No semblance." I flare my own semblance, archaic rings lighting up around my hands and motion towards him, sending pure fire in his direction. Surprise etches into his face as he glows gold and creates a wall. I frown and throw a stronger surge at him to break his defense. He sends the golden rectangle strait at my own attack and grabs his pack, throwing it to the side as he runs in the opposite direction. The wall had diminished quickly under my attack and was less than a fifth of what it was before as it raced back to the boy.

"Now that my stuff is out of the way and no longer in any harm you can throw your fireballs of death and doom around the room."

"You do not trust me enough to not harm your things?" He scoffed.

"What can I say, I like my things the way they are now." He smiles while saying, "Not burned at all." I narrow my eyes.

"Your things are the least you should be worried about.." His smile drops and his voice drops an octave.

"I know. You wanted to indoctrinate me into your little group? Aside from being the only Human around here-" I send a fireball at him and he rolls right, "-excluding you and your merry little band of misfits, that can't be enough-" I send a rapid series of fireballs in his direction. He dodges most but a few hit and burn away at his White Fang jacket, the clothes underneath catching flame. "Damn. I'll shut up now." He runs as I send another barrage his way, managing to put out the fire by hiding behind a machine for a few moments. This goes on for at least a half hour as he runs, using the machinery as coverage and firing off rounds from the rifle once he gets the rare chance.

He ducks underneath a metal arm as more fireballs are headed his way. He jumps over a fence and runs, the fireballs washing over the metal and half melting it. He turns another corner and throws one of his spare ammo cartridges back near me.

"That won't do you any-" He turned and leveled his gun at me, instantly opening fire. I blocked the bullets with my semblance, super-heating the air in front of me so that the bullets would explode. So why weren't they-"

An explosion sounds off near my feet. I glance at the ground and the broken pieces of the cartridge, the smouldering ground proof of an attempt to distract me while he throws his gun at me. I shift left as it flies by me and duck to dodge a hacksaw aimed at my head. Clever. He finally stopped running. I throw a strike at his gut causing him to keel over. He uses the momentum to throw a sloppy strike at my back but I easily grip his arm and twist him over my shoulder. He lands on his back, a sharp crack sounding out as a golden shield catches his head and makes contact with the ground. A simple flick of my wrist and a flame held at his throat ends it. After a few tense seconds slow clapping came from one of the catwalks.

"Bravo, bravo." Torchwick. "You succeeded in taking down an almost completely untrained wannabe Hunter who you technically stole from me. As much as I would like to have my grunt back, you need him for whatever diabolical plans you have in store. Which you still haven't let me in on, by the way." I remove the flame from the boys throat and he visibly relaxes. I walk away from the boy, ignoring Torchwick and leaving a word of advice to the boy.

"I hope you learned something boy. Training will only get harder from here." His response is surprising.

"Good. Coming from you I'd be disappointed in anything less."

-Phobophobia-

There's no way the two are related. No way possible. He didn't have any other family besides myself, and even then we weren't blood related, so why does the boy look so similar? Long-lost sibling? Impossible, he would be too old to have a younger brother that much younger. Not only that but he is a boy, younger than me, his parents would have been too old to consider having another child. So why does the boy look so similar to him? Granted there are differences between the two but even so different age, a few features and a slightly different persona shouldn't be possible. Not only that but he should have his own semblance. Even if they were twins it wouldn't happen, not even twins have the same semblance, different color be damned.

"Penny for your thoughts?" I turn to the boy. His skin is glistening with sweat, usual attire slightly darkened by absorbing the beads of salty liquid on his skin and water bottle half empty.

"Why aren't you training?"

"Answering a question with a question isn't nice, you know?" I narrow my eyes and he smirks. "To answer your question Mercury got fed up with me again. Three days and he already starts to use Sheen on me first thing in a fight." He sighs as if saddened.

"You're doing it on purpose, aren't you."

"Oh yeah, Definitely. Not even going to try denying that one." Down below in the factory Mercury went on a rampage, yelling obscenities and 'He's doing it on PURPOSE!' every few seconds. "I think he heard me. I might have said that a bit too loudly then." He walks over to the edge of the roof and sits down next to me. He smells like body odor, as per usual during the past three nights. He takes a large chug of his drink, sighs, and lies down on the edge of the two story building with his lower legs dangling off. "So now it would be polite to answer my question, no?"

"It would be." A pregnant pause.

"You're not going to answer, are you?"

"No, I don't want a penny for your thoughts."

"Well I'm going to try and avoid the wrath of Mercury. We need a guy running around that shoots lightning bolts and is named Zeus so I can make wrath of the gods jokes all day long." I roll my eyes. How is there a similarity? "Well, I've wanted to try this for a while now and this seems like a perfect time to do it." He gets up and walks half way up the glass roof, turns around and starts running.

"Your funeral, boy." He smiles and a flash of gold light extends across his back to create a pair of thin golden wings. He jumps, glides across the sky with a visible wobble, and lands in the middle of the road. My eyes widen slightly. He couldn't have just... come up with that. He had to have seen him do it somehow, had to have known about him. There's just no possible way. Those were _his _wings the boy just used. The boys semblance is the same as his, excluding color. So how is it that this boy has almost the same semblance and same face as him?

Impossible.

-Phobophobia-

**A/N: And here we are. Send me ideas please because I most likely will use them in some way, shape or form. I like listening to ideas. Thanks for the reads, the follows, and the occasional reviews from those who really feel the need to.**


	11. Chapter 10, Morpheus Shippuden

**A/N: So I managed to keep another chapter going for another week. Yay me. I also went back and ****edited the last chapter**** a bit so check that out, the edits are small but they are important for future chapters.**

** Did you guys see the newest episode? I think we now know what Cinder is planning with her actions in the last episode. World of Remnant is awesome but in the long run I think there's not enough detail. It covers the basics but now we need in-depth explanations of how Dust works and what the Four kingdoms are like. We know Vale but what about Mistral, Atlas and Vacuo? We barely know what people from there are like and next to nothing on the kingdoms themselves.**

-Chapter Ten-

-Me-

A bullet from Sheen rockets out from the rifling of the right greave. The silver orb of condensed Dust flies by, grazing my neck as a message that he could have killed me. Blood trickles down my neck and into my shirt, resting with the increasing layer of sweat that is accumulating on my body. I throw a left punch that he easily counters against by dropping low and trying to trip me. I jump up over the leg and block the other that had arched up to kick me in the gut, blocked by a quick x-shaped guard. The kick pushes me back a few feet, shoes grinding against concrete and arms in pain from the force of the kick.

By now I should be expecting stuff like this.

Mercury is on his feet again, rushing up with the speed of the wind. His right leg rushes out in a grey-blue flurry with the intent to jab into my face. I move to the left and step in twice aiming a punch to his gut but his leg folds around the back of my neck, heel tucked against my throat, and he pulls me down. He moves his leg out of the way letting me fall to cold concrete love. I position my hands next to my head and roll back with the fall, thrusting up and over my head with my legs and pushing off the ground to launch myself back into a standing position.

I seem to be pushed back a lot. Let's make it work for me.

Mercury rushes in again and swings his left leg up to strike me. I move, twisting under the strike and grabbing his leg, knocking out the other leg from under him. He plants his palms on the ground and twists his legs in a circular motion, freeing them of my grasp and kicking me in the face. I twist into the kick and spin, thumbing one of the five metal rings on the left side of my back as I do so. My semblance flows out of my thumb and circles the ring to act as another appendage from my thumb, pulling the fifteen inches of sharpened leather-wrapped steel out from the sheathe. I rip the kunai through the air, spinning it to make it act as if it were a buzz saw. The white-grey metal manages to trim a few millimeters off of Mercurys' haircut, just shy of shearing off too much of his luscious locks.

I don't think he's happy about it.

I pull then kunai back and grasp the other four on the left with my semblance, also doing so with the five on the right. The ten sharpened blades of steel sing as they are drawn and fly towards Mercury, sharpened points homing in for the kill. He uses Sheen to rocket jump over the ten blades and tries to drop kick me in the head. I move my hands in front of my face and merge the bands of light together, recalling the kunai and creating a spiked shield. He rocket jumps off the shield, managing to avoid the spikes, and lands a few feet away. He charges me and launches a flurry of fast and complex kicks that I can barely follow. Increasing the size of the shield to make it a tower shield I charge him. He steps to my right and around the shield, bringing an armored leg around to knock me out. I retract the tower shield, letting the kunai hang from my right fingers through the two inch wide rings on the end, and position my left hand underneath my right armpit and say one word.

"Rock." I limit the sphere of golden energy because of the equipment around us, only being twice in height as myself but still pushing back Mercury because of the sudden expansion of my semblance. "Paper." The orb condenses into a small disk only a few inches in diameter. I spin the kunai into the disk sideways, creating a ten-pointed shuriken. I would have continued on to scissors but Mercury was launching Dust rounds at me. I increased the size of the shuriken to my own height, just over six feet tall, and send the now spinning shuriken at him. Midway I shift it so that the kunai are directly facing him, continuing to spin the enlarged shuriken as firing Dust rounds are no longer a priority. He rolls to the side as the giant bladed disk spins by and loges into the wall.

Ah crap, what do I have working for me now? Mercury is charging at me and I don't have any defenses, if I retract my semblance now I- wait.

"Paper, scissors." The disk shrinks again and extends into a flat beam of golden light that pulls up to the glass ceiling. Spinning the kunai around the beam of golden semblance creates a chainsaw like blade. "Shoot!" The blade shoots down and crashes into the concrete next to Mercury, only a few feet away from me now. Chunks of grey concrete crash up and around as the golden chainsaw impacts the ground. Mercury himself wasn't expecting it, his face contorted in surprise.

"Enough." Cinder walks into the light of the waning gibbous, just beginning to show its shattered side. "He has proven to be competent enough in a fight." I scoff slightly.

"True enough, but I am heavily semblance reliant." I look down into the small crevice to find the multiple kunai somehow still intact, with only a few scratches. "You said these are made of steel? Those things should have broken on impact." I send my semblance into the crevice and pull the kunai out, lightly dusting them off and re-sheathing them. Cinders response is cryptic at worst.

"They may have been crafted with a bit of Dust to ensure they stayed intact." The ten blades retreat into the sheathes with a series of small slightly off chinks compared to when before they were scratched.

"I guess that makes sense. Wouldn't want a weapon to break in a fight." I gently rest my left hand on the cool Dust-laced steel.

Has it really been three weeks since I almost got lit on fire by Cinder during my first 'training' session with her? True to her word training certainly didn't get easier. On occasion Torchwick decided to pop in, say hi and beat my ass into the ground. Even one of his underlings, a woman named Neopolitan, came in once and wanted a spar. That went over well. I cringe at the memories of fighting Neo, the Kyoka Suigetsu like semblance proving to be a pain in my ass more than once.

"I'm... going to go back to my room now. If that's okay?" Cinder nods.

"You have performed admirably tonight. Go rest. You have a lot of work in the morning."

-Phobophobia-

The sound of metal running across metal rings through the air. Almost all of the kunai are sharpened with only one remaining to meet the Dust laced bar used to sharpen the kunai. The fifteen inches of the kunai are split into three parts, the first part being the nine inch blade, the second being the handle with four inches, and the ring on the end of the handle being two inches in length. The blade is leaf shaped and smooth and the handle is wrapped in thin dark brown leather that has a smooth texture.

"Taking care of your weapons I see?" I look up to see Emerald standing in the doorway to my small spartan room. She's leaning casually against the door frame with a very slight hint of mirth in her eyes. She's also here at what's about to be a bad time.

"It's the only thing I have to do right now. Why?" She walks in slowly, taking a look around my room. There's really only a simple bed with a red sheet and blue blanket, tan wood wardrobe, and a small chair and desk of the same color and material for the occasional whatever should happen in my room. The walls are painted a soft red and there's a window that opens out into the outskirts of the financial district. Courtesy of the White Fang of course.

"It's interesting, how you managed to get Mercury pissed off so easily. Normally he never looses his cool. You walking in here with your passive aggressive attitude and suddenly he's all riled up." She's at the desk now and turns to me. "It' kind of funny." I shrug.

"He was being annoying, if out of good nature. It wasn't like I hated his company but almost all the damn time is a bit too much if you ask me." She smirks and walks up to me. Her heart has a shifting quality I haven't felt before.

"He's a rather sly one you know. He likes to plan, have his fingers in everybody's business just so that he knows what's going on." I arch a eyebrow at the face that's now leaing in slowly.

"Why tell me this? I doubt you'd have a reason if you have nothing to gain." She smirks, her face inching closer at a _really bad time._

"I kind of like to see Mercury squirm. Keep him irritated," Her mouth is at my ear and as she speaks her breath is hot against my ear, just barely above a whisper. Her heart now has an amused spin to it above the shifting quality I can't identify, "It's entertaining to watch." She leans out, still smirking, and walks out of my room.

_Beep beep._

I blink twice and my hands rush to my right pocket where my scroll is- was. I look up to see Emerald had ran off _with the scroll Ozpin was going to contact me on. _Shit.

-Phobophobia-

**A/N: So we have Emerald doing a bit of sexy walk in and then steal all your stuff. Nice, feels like I got played. This will end well for me. I decided to make my weapons kunai because it could synergize with my semblance, as seen in the first section. A sword would have been nice but would have limited my overall effectiveness, even without my semblance.**


	12. Sorry guys, Hiatus time

** A/N: Hello again, Shady's back with a brand new rap.**

** Unfortunately though this rap isn't a very good one. I'm disappointed in myself and this story. I knew after the first few chapters that it would require a re-write but with the way I have this going now it's going to need to go on hiatus because things could spiral completely out of canonical events. Most of which we don't even know if the world of remnant hints are anything to go by. So I'm going to put this story on indefinite hold and start a new one in a few weeks when I have a few chapters cranked out. I want to make a decent self insert but I have no idea what to write. The typical Naruto and Mass Effect ones are automatically scrapped, as much as I would love to make one for ME you see them too often and I just hate Naruto for no explicable reason. Skyrim maybe? Code Geass? Bleach? Well, I could work with Bleach but eh. Destiny? Nah, only the first game has come out and there's going to be more so can't do that. Tell me what you guys would like to see and I'll come up with something.**

** Sorry about this, but I really don't want to spiral out of canon. That and I kind of just made things up as I went along.**

** Thank you for subscribing and I will see you back in a new TME in a few month, if we're lucky. It probably won't even be called TME.**

** Did you guys see the newest episode? The change in Weiss when meeting... crap, the dog, wasn't so very subtle at all. I can't imagine the kind of impact the dog will have on the trip if he was in the backpack. On another note, Ozpin and co. at least know who their enemy is to some extent. Last but not least, Ozpin probably knows how everything happened at the docks and all. I'm willing to bet he also changed the teacher to Oobleck after RWBY was given the mission.**

** Anyways, sayonara for now.**


End file.
